Becoming Your Child’s Superhero Starts in the Womb
When we think of love our minds often go to our partner or to romance. The truth is love comes in many forms. If you ask any mother, they will tell you that they never knew the depths of which they could love another person until they became a mother. It’s true; we love our partners, our parents, our family members and even our friends. However the love a mother has for her baby is a unique and special love. This love is a love that is designed to bond a mother to her child for life. It is intended to be indelible, irreversible and indestructible. Ask any mother to describe this feeling and she would say it is strong, it is deep, it is beyond words.
In fact nature has the perfect prescription for creating this amazing maternal bond between mother and child. It is a complex combination of hormones that rush through the mother’s system throughout pregnancy and literally transform her into a mother. These hormones include progesterone, estrogen, oxytocin, beta-endorphins and prolactin. Some of this transformation includes the ability for her breasts to make milk to nourish her baby, her brain actually grows larger, her sense of smell becomes so keen she can recognize her child out of a group of babies just by scent and amazingly mom’s body heat is regulated based on her baby’s need for warmth. That’s right, you become a superhero. Your maternal love is your superpower.
This superpower enables mothers to stay up all night with a teething 4 month old. It allows mothers to temporarily put their dream jobs on hold to care for their new baby. Later on, it’s the kind of love that lands you in the principal’s office defending your child’s creative and energetic personality. This superpower gives a mother the knowledge without a shadow of a doubt that she would put her own life at risk if it meant she could save her child. This is a mother’s love.
This superpower does not come without its challenges. This deep and binding love makes mothers vulnerable. It means the first, second and twentieth time that a mother leaves her baby with grandma or a sitter, she will feel uneasy and worry that her child will be ok. She may send her child away to his first day of school and find herself following the bus to see that he arrives safely. It means a mother can develop a deep sadness as her child grows and becomes independent. However, as with all superpowers it can be both a blessing and a challenge. The good news is, mothers can pass this superpower on to their children by meeting their needs, nourishing themselves and their children, showing compassion and engaging in loving relationships. You can be your child’s hero. You can change the world.
The MotherBaby Bond begins during pregnancy. You can learn more about your special abilities and superpowers in the new book, The Greatest Pregnancy Ever: Keys to the MotherBaby Bond.
How have you been your child’s superhero today?